2,100-Year-Old Royal Mausoleum Found in China

Archaeologists in China have discovered a mausoleum, dating back over 2,100 years, that contains three main tombs, including the tomb of Liu Fei (shown at bottom), the ruler of the Jiangdu kingdom in China.

Chinese Archaeology

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MysteriousSiberianMummies:Photos

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Russian archaeologists have resumed excavations in a remote site near the Arctic Circle in the attempt to solve the mystery of mysterious medieval mummies clad in copper masks.

Kate Baklitskaya/The Siberian Times

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Overall, the archaeologists found 34 shallow graves with seven male adults, three male infants, and one female child, roughly 1,000 years old. Buried with a hoard of artifacts, some of the bodies had shattered or missing skulls, and smashed skeletons.

Natalya Fyodorova/The Siberian Times

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This is one of the three copper masked infant male mummies found at the site. Each mummy was bound in four or five copper hoops two inches wide.

Natalya Fyodorova/The Siberian Times

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Five mummies were unearthed still shrouded in copper and blankets of reindeer, beaver, wolverine or bear fur.

Natalya Fyodorova/The Siberian Times

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This is a mummified hand of a child. Among the graves, the archaeologists found only one female child wearing a copper mask.

Natalya Fyodorova/The Siberian Times

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The artifacts discovered near the copper clad mummies included an iron combat knife, bracelets, silver medallions and bronze figurines. The archaeologists also found bowls originating in Persia, some 3,700 miles to the southwest, dating from the 10th or 11th centuries.
The finding suggests that around one millennium ago Siberia was not a remote and inhospitable site but an important trading crossroad.

Natalya Fyodorova/The Siberian Times

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The archaeologists admitted the graves feature burial rites they had never seen before. They hope to solve the riddle on the mysterious people by carrying further excavations and genetic tests.
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Liu Fei died in 128 B.C. during the 26th year of his rule over a kingdom named Jiangdu, which was part of the Chinese empire.

Although the mausoleum had been plundered, archaeologists found that it still contained more than 10,000 artifacts, including treasures made of gold, silver, bronze, jade and lacquer. They also found severallife-size chariot and dozens of smaller chariots.

Excavated between 2009 and 2011, the mausoleum contains "three main tombs, 11 attendant tombs, two chariot-and-horse pits, two weaponry pits" and the remains of an enclosure wall that originally encompassed the complex, a team of Nanjing Museum archaeologists said in an article recently published in the journal Chinese Archaeology. The wall was originally about 1,608 feet (490 meters) long on each side. [See Photos of the Ancient Mausoleum and Artifacts]

The archaeologists said their work was a "rescue excavation," as the site was threatened by quarrying.

A large earthen mound — extending more than 492 feet (150 meters) — once covered the king's tomb, the archaeologists say. The tomb has two long shafts leading to a burial chamber that measured about 115 feet (35 m) long by 85 feet (26 m) wide.

Such goods would have been fitting for such a "luxurious" ruler. "Liu Fei admired daring and physical prowess. He built palaces and observation towers and invited to his court all the local heroes and strong men from everywhere around," wrote ancient historian Sima Qian (145-86 B.C.), as translated by Burton Watson. "His way of life was marked by extreme arrogance and luxury."

His burial chamber is divided into a series of corridors and small chambers. The chamber contained numerous weapons, including iron swords, spearheads, crossbow triggers, halberds (a two-handled pole weapon), knives and more than 20 chariot models (not life-size).

The archaeologists also found musical instruments, including chime bells, zither bridges (the zither is a stringed instrument) and jade tuning pegs decorated with a dragon design.